by James Glaser
March 31, 2003

There are some mighty fine young Americans getting killed, wounded, and taken as prisoners of war in Iraq. I'll tell you right out I don't like this war, but we are in it now and our leadership is getting our troops killed

Washington talks about Iraqi war crimes, well the only war crime I see is coming from Washington and that crime is the misuse our troops for political gain...

America is the greatest military power the world has ever seen and there is no way that Iraq should be able to even slow us down, but more than that they are fighting us to a stand still. Rather than letting our Generals fight this war, Washington, George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, have decided that they want to be the next Napoleons and have taken charge of tactics.

We have a very fine Military Doctrine, called the Powell Doctrine, after General Colin Powell who developed it and it has been proven in the last Gulf War to not only win wars, but also save the lives of many troops. This Doctrine says, "The force when used, should be overwhelming and disproportionate to the force used by the enemy. And there must be an exit strategy from the conflict in which the military is engaged." Right now Iraq has more troops than we do and that is what is hurting our war plans.

There was a real reason that we were willing to give Turkey over 30 billion dollars to let our troops enter Iraq from the north through their country. We needed a heavy armored division to strike Baghdad from that direction, but when Turkey said no, those leading this war from their desks in Washington didn't have the patience to wait to reposition that division before we started an attack. That division is still on its way to Kuwait, so they can join in on the attack.

It has been reported that General Tommy Franks the Commander in the Field wanted not only that armored division, but more troops before any attack started. Washington, could not wait and put to risk our fine young men and women in hopes for a fast victory. Now Tommy Franks is coming out and saying he has all the troops he ever wanted. Can you even imagine what kind of political pressure they are putting on that man? I am sure there are veiled threats to him, about being the first battle field commander relieved of duty in fifty five years if he doesn't get behind this administrations war plan. If he had all the troops he wanted, why did we try so hard to have a extra division to attack from Turkey? Why now are we sending another 120,000 troops to the war zone?

I get out and out mad when I read about young Marines getting killed. I get mad when men like Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush, two men with no military background, over rule those generals that have worked their whole lives to get ready for this moment in history. I get mad when our forces are pushed into an attack before all the troops are in position because those in Washington feel it is politically the right time. Those Marines and Soldiers that are dying are dying for their country, but also so George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld can tell the world that America can do whatever they want it to. They couldn't wait until the military was ready, so they must take responsibility for these losses.

Because Washington has pushed our military into attacking Iraq before they were ready, using a completely new tactic called a "rolling start," not only will more of our troops suffer, but many more innocent civilians will get killed as our undermanned forces have to use tactics they would have never needed if our whole force had been deployed.

George and Donald talk of Iraqi war crimes, like troops fighting in civilian clothes. It was just last year in Afghanistan that our "special ops" troops were shown wearing Afghan clothes, having beards, and even riding the local horses in order to blend in. Washington is now accusing Iraq of killing Prisoners of War. Just about a month ago it was reported that two Afghan prisoners were murdered in our custody and we admitted it.

Washington and America have to wake up to the fact that rules for war go out the window when the first shots are fired. This is not some game with rules and penalties and only a couple of guys like George and Donald with no clue of what combat is, would prattle on about foolish things like these, while Americans are getting killed.

Now I know, much like Lyndon Baines Johnson, George Bush is going to carry on no matter how many young Americans he gets killed. To minimize these losses it is time to turn this war over to the professionals and let the Generals run things the way they want. The lives of our troops are more important than political gains.

This Sunday. Washington left the politicians at home and sent out the Generals to tell the American people that everything was going according to plan, but they were not too convincing. Yes, without a doubt we are going to win this war, but at what cost?

At what point will we have killed too many Iraqi civilians before we lose the peace. Is there a number someplace, lets say we can kill 5,270 and the Iraqis will still welcome us as liberators, but at 5,271 we become an invading army. That is just nonsense. If America kills someone's child in Iraq, Democracy is never going to look good to them. That goes for nieces, nephews, sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers. Every innocent person that we kill in Iraq has a circle of relatives around them that will hate us.

I listen to the likes of George Will and those war monger pundits and realize that they are looking at the Big Picture and all of our Marines and Soldiers are tools to use to get to the objective. Getting rid of Saddam. To me, those Marines and Soldiers are each a special person that I don't want us to "Use."

Call me what ever you want, but to me this war is a waste. The hundreds of billions we will end up spending on Iraq is money better spent at home. Those in Washington don't have to think about homeless people or American children without health care or enough food to eat. These "leaders" we have are sheltered from seeing the America that isn't doing so well. These people are driven around to where ever they have to go and police and guards keep the rest of us out of sight and out of mind.

There is not a person working for the federal government that does not have the best of health care and retirement. As we crude people out here in the "homeland" would say, "these guys have it dicked."

Washington does not care if they spend the money for a prescription drug benefit that our parents need so much on Iraq, because they can't understand people choosing between food and drugs. These people that lead our country will take the money needed to fix up American schools and spend it in Iraq, because their kids go to private or the very best public schools and they have no idea of what inner city schools look like.

I am not advocating a welfare state, but I am advocating that we spend American tax money on Americans. It is wrong that George Bush had to pay billions of dollars to the countries that are in his coalition. That is especially true because only 2 out of the 47 countries he claims to be on our side are actually in combat. The other 45 are just cashing our checks. We should look out for Americans first. Just like I want us to look out for American Soldiers and Marines first. If it is going to cost more money and take longer to do this war right, OK! Just as those in Washington cannot see the plight of many working Americans, these same leaders can not see what a crime it is to waste our young people in uniform by not giving them the military support they need.

Our President and his administration do not support our troops! They send them into battle before everything is ready. They will deny this now, but way too many Generals, active and retired, concur about this.

As I said at the start of this, I think this war is wrong, but it is even more wrong to sacrifice our Soldiers and Marines because those in Washington were too pig headed to listen to the people we hire to plan and fight our wars, the Generals.

The United States of America does have the greatest and most powerful military this world has ever seen. Does it make any sense at all that a third world country like Iraq can fight us to a stand still. It is just a crime the way George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld have wasted so many fine young Americans.